In separate federal competitions, seven LAS students earned scholarship awards to fund their studies abroad as part of a U.S. government effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical languages.
Andrew Barr, a junior from Mount Prospect, Ill., majoring in political science, won a $10,000 Boren Scholarship. He will study Arabic at the University of Jordan in Amman during the fall 2012 semester. Barr, a midshipman in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program, is pursuing coursework in the Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security program at Illinois, concentrating his research on suicide terrorism. He is active with the Illinois Model United Nations Team and as a contributor of foreign affairs articles and research to several think tanks.
Chris Olen, a senior from Naperville, Ill., double majoring in political science and Spanish, won a $20,000 Boren Scholarship. He will study Mandarin in Beijing and Shanghai during the spring and summer of 2013. Olen seeks to investigate the ramifications of the interactions between the private sector in China and the Chinese government. Olen has served as a research assistant at the Cline Center for Democracy at the U of I and is also active with Model United Nations.
Hristo Alexiev, a graduate student in Russian, East European and Eurasian studies, from Spring, Texas, will use his $21,200 Boren Fellowship to study Turkish and conduct research at Boğaziçi University in Turkey. Alexiev, a native of Bulgaria, moved to the U.S. in 1998 with his family. He will focus his thesis studies on the regional role Turkey plays in the balance of interethnic and minority relations in the Balkans and its historical roots.
Boren awards, part of the National Security Education Program, provide funds for exceptional undergraduate and graduate students to study non-traditional languages around the world. Boren scholars pledge to seek employment with the Department of State, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, or the intelligence community after graduation. The awards are named for David Boren, the president of the University of Oklahoma. He was a U.S. senator and principal author of the legislation that created the National Security Education Program.
Additionally, four LAS students earned U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarships (CLS) to fully fund overseas language study. Recipients will spend seven to 10 weeks in immersive language institutes this summer. The recipients are:
Andrew Dolinar, a junior from Evanston, Ill., double majoring in sociology and Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies, will continue his Russian studies in Kazan, Russia. A James Scholar honors student, Dolinar also worked to promote cross-cultural interactions as a programming advisor in the residential life program at Illinois.
Jeffrey Harmon, a senior from Naperville, Ill., majoring in global studies, will be studying Mandarin in Beijing. He studied in China last fall and has been conducting ethnographic research pertaining to the increase of Chinese international students attending the University of Illinois.
Dana Fager, of Oak Park, Ill., a recent graduate in international studies, earned her second consecutive CLS award and will again be studying Japanese in Kyoto, Japan. She has spent a year studying in Japan. On campus, Fager was a member of the Campus Honors Program, a peer advisor in the Study Abroad Office, and vice president of the Global Studies Leaders. Fager previously won the Illinois International Undergraduate Achievement Award.
Zachary Sell, of Milwaukee, Wisc., a doctoral student in history, has been offered a CLS to continue his Hindi studies in Jaipur, India.
